The body of a fisherman named Ram Das has been recovered from the sea in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong, five days after he was beaten and thrown into the sea for protesting against sand mining. The Coast Guard recovered his body from the Sitakunda sea area on Friday (February 21, 2025) morning.
The matter was confirmed by Shawkat Akbar, Commander of the East Zone (Chittagong) Coast Guard’s Kumira Camp. He said that the body of a fisherman was recovered from the sea area adjacent to Guliahali Sea Beach in Sitakunda Upazila at around 9 am on Friday. The body has been sent to Chittagong Medical College for autopsy. It is learnt that on February 16, 2025, Ram Das was beaten up by sand pirates and thrown into the sea for protesting against illegal sand mining on the Sitakunda coast. At that time, they kidnapped his brother Liton Das. Eight hours after receiving the information, the naval police rescued Liton Das from Hatia Dwip area of Noakhali and arrested 6 people involved in the incident.
It is learnt that sand is being illegally dredged at 5 places in Chittagong’s Sandwip Channel. Earlier, local Awami League leaders were extracting sand, but after the change of government on August 5, BNP-Jamaat leaders took control of it. Due to illegal extraction of sand from the sea, the embankment is being eroded. Due to the extraction of sand with dredgers and the movement of bulkheads to transport it, not many fish are being caught in the nets of fishermen in the surrounding areas.
It has been seen on the ground that sand is being extracted day and night in the coastal areas of various unions including Saidpur in the upazila, Guliahali in Muradpur, Madaritola in Barabkunda, Akilpur in Banshbaria, Sonaichhari, Kumira and other areas of the Sandwip channel using dredgers. Although sand has been extracted continuously for the past few months, the upazila administration and concerned officials have remained silent. Locals have expressed anger over this.
Local fisherman’s village chief Pradeep Das said that fishermen have been suffering due to the reckless extraction of sand by illegal sand miners from the sea coast for four months. They have cut off the nets of the fishermen set in the sea. The fishermen have lost these nets, which they bought on high-interest loans from the Dadandars, and are stranded on the road. These sand-mining miscreants have cut off the nets worth more than 1.5 lakh taka of the two fishermen brothers who were attacked. Upazila Fisheries Officer Kamal Uddin Chowdhury said that sand has been being extracted from the sea on the Sitakunda coast for a long time. He also complained about this in the monthly law and order committee meeting of the upazila. But the extraction of sand has not stopped.
Saying that 20 cases have been registered against bulkhead and dredger owners so far this year, Kumira Naval Police In-charge Wali Uddin Akbar said that people from a bulkhead named NV Nabil Farhan were involved in the kidnapping of fisherman Liton Das. Six people have been arrested in this incident. Legal action will be taken after investigating the recovery of the body of another fisherman. Sitakunda Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Fakhrul Islam said that legal action will be taken against those involved in illegally extracting sand from the sea. Source-Samakal.com.
